Harsh Times
by Dancin'Robot1
Summary: The members of CP9 are sold into slavery for failing to defeat the Straw Hat pirates. What happens when two of them meet up again in a human auction house and then come face to face with the Straw Hat crew. Does not follow the storyline for Sabaody Arc. Rated M just to be safe
1. They Meet Again

Kaku stumbled, the long legs of his full giraffe form not being built for carrying the extra weight of his Master, how Kaku hated that word and how he hated the man who currently held that title over him. Kaku wasn't even sure how much time had passed since he and the rest of CP9 had lost to the Straw Hat Pirates and had been sold into slavery for their failure.

* * *

 _Kaku groaned as he regained consciousness only to find himself inside of Bluenos alternate dimension watching the Buster Call take place, he glanced around the rest of CP9 were present and all seemed to be in good shape, well better shape than him anyway, until his eyes fell on Rob. He wasn't even sure the man was still breathing. As soon as the rumbling had ceased Blueno opened a door and helped Lucci and Kaku out and set them on solid ground. None of them had been prepared for Spandam to be standing there with a large group of marines._

 _"I want all of them in chains" he spat, "for aiding the Straw Hat Pirates in freeing Nico Robin and in the destruction of the Tower of Justice"_

 _They all froze anger and confusion rising quickly, they didn't have time to react as they were all restrained in sea prism hand cuffs._

 _"What do you want done with them sir?" a marine asked,_

 _"I want all of them put to death." He yelled angrily before he suddenly got an idea, he smiled to himself, "No I want them all sold into slavery, and get Lucci the necessary medical treatment, death is too good for them."_

* * *

Kaku stumbled again, embarrassed at having to stay in his full animal form, completely naked, and carrying the large man who owned him around on his back. He didn't dare to argue or fight back the collar around his neck threatening to blow his head off, they were back on Sabaody heading to a human auction house, it seemed his master had gotten tired of the maintenance of feeding an animal of his size and wanted to get rid of him. They stopped outside the auction house and Kaku was forced to lie down, bending his legs awkwardly beneath him, he moved slowly knowing he would be punished if his master were to fall. The large man stepped off, the leash he was on was handed over to a handler, at first the handler seemed confused, until it was explained that Kaku was a zoan type and was currently in his full animal form. His master left to find seating in the house and Kaku hoped he would never have to see the man again. He was brought out of his thoughts at the harsh tug on his leash; he turned his head and looked down at the man holding the other end.

"Shift into your human form. Now"

Kaku blushed deeply, extremely conscious of his lack of clothing but did as he was told. As soon as he had returned to his human form his arms were forced behind his back and into a pair of sea prism cuffs, he was then forcefully dragged through the doors reserved for merchandise, and once inside he was shoved into a pair of pants way too big for him and shoved harshly into a cell. He sighed but looked around, the cells around him held people of seemingly little interest, among them was a young mermaid crying in a bowl and an old man who looked vaguely familiar, he stretched as much as he was able then froze. He stared at the cell across from him not believing what he was seeing at first,

"Lucci?" he asked certain he was not mistaken, the man glanced up at hearing his name and seemed just as surprised.

"Kaku"

"How, what are you doing here?" as soon as the words left his mouth he could have slapped himself that was a stupid question. Lucci chuckled at the face Kaku had made after speaking,

"Guess my previous master" he spat the word like venom, "got tired of me, you I assume are in a similar situation."

Kaku nodded explaining his life for the last few months, blushing profusely at having to explain being naked at all times because his master thought a giraffe with clothes looked stupid. Lucci simply sat and listened to his previous co-agents story until a handler stopped in front of Kakus cell. Kaku glanced up then stood wordlessly as the handler unlocked the cell door and dragged him out of his cell and down the hall to the stage. As soon as Kaku stepped onto the stage he blocked out the man next to him and simply let his eyes wander the crowd. He froze body stiffening when his eyes landed on Franky, he scanned the area around him; no Luffy and no Zoro he noted but before he can deduce anything further he was dragged back to his cell and was once again harshly shoved inside. As soon as the handler left he once again began speaking to Lucci, noticing that the mermaid was being taken next.

"The Straw Hats are here in the auction house, they-" but Kaku didn't get any further as Lucci immediately cut him off,

"Are you positive?" Kaku nodded,

"Yes Franky is with them though I didn't see the captain or swordsman but the rest of the crew is unmistakable." the conversation was interrupted by a very loud crashing sound coming from the auction hall, both men glanced in that direction in confusion, they become even more confused when the old man two cells down suddenly stood up and walked out of his cell collar no longer in place and wandered around looking for what was revealed to be money, once finding the money he turns to leave but stopped when he hears a panicked scream and steps out of the hall.

* * *

Franky ran down the hall looking frantically for the keys to Keimis' collar and cuffs, he stopped suddenly noticing that two of the cells were still occupied, the rest of the slaves were in the auction hall, he stepped closer then turned suddenly and continued his search. After finding the keys he returned to the auction hall only to find that Keimi was safe and free of the collar, he threw the keys to the other slaves and after a short pause told them he wanted the keys back when they are done. The slaves freed themselves and handed the keys over to Franky who then called to Luffy, Robin, and Zoro that they needed to come see this.

* * *

Kaku and Lucci continued sitting in their cells extremely pissed that they were the only cells still locked, the two turned their heads at the sound of approaching footsteps that could be heard down the hall. They were only mildly surprised to see Robin, Franky, Zoro and Luffy come down the hall to their cells, neither man spoke or moved just sat on the floor in silence.

"Well Luffy?" Franky asked, the captain seemed thoughtful and slightly angry, he could clearly see the old scars and new bruises covering both men's bodies, he nodded only once and Franky unlocked the door to Kakus cell first, reaching in and pulling the man up onto his feet before handing control of him over to Zoro. Kaku refused to look at him, embarrassed that his previous opponent would see him like this, and stubbornly looked at the ground, he jumped slightly when the explosive collar around his neck fell away. He glanced up at Zoro then immediately looked over to where Lucci was also being freed of the collar, he frowned when they didn't free his wrists but didn't say anything as Zoro grabbed his arm and dragged him out into the auditorium, he stumbled slightly but managed to keep up.

"Luffy what on earth do you plan on doing with them?" Nami yelled as soon as she saw the two men,

"We are taking them back to the ship" Luffy stated as if it were obvious, Nami stared at him then her gaze shifted to Robin and the look on the other woman's face compeled her to take a closer look at the two men, they both had their arms restrained behind their backs with sea prism cuffs and both looked to be malnourished and indifferent to the situation almost as if their spirits had been broken and they simply no longer cared what happened to them.

"Fine but we have to go, now"

* * *

One very intense fight and chase later the crew was safely on board the Thousand Sunny and hidden in a cove off the far side of the island that Rayleigh insisted they stay in until he is done coating the ship, with their two new charges; Both of which were sitting in the middle of the Sunny looking dejectedly at the ground,

"So now what are you going to do with them?" Franky asked from where he was leaning against the rail, Luffy didn't answer instead but instead chose to turn to Sanji,

"Sanji feed them, they clearly need it, Franky you may free one of their hands so that they can eat, and Chopper check them over for injuries." The crew members that had been addressed immediately headed off to do as instructed. Sanji to the galley, and Chopper to retrieve his tools from the Med Bay, Franky stayed where he was intending to free them when the meal was brought out, not before. Brook, having not been present at the time of the Water 7 events, stood on the sidelines sipping tea and observing the crew. Kaku was the first to speak,

"Why?" the one word hanged heavily in the air for only a brief moment before Luffy answered him,

"No one deserves to be treated as property."


	2. No is Not an Option

Chopper came back first, the small reindeer seemingly nervous about getting too close to the two other zoan types. But after being assured that they wouldn't attack him he stepped forward and checked both men over. He was relieved to see that neither of them were too horribly injured and proceeded to give them what he called Necessary Sickness Prevention shots. By the time Chopper was finishing up, Sanji had emerged from the galley carrying two very large plates of food and for once Luffy didn't even look at them. Franky came over and asked both men which hand they normally ate with, when both responded that they are right handed he freed their right hands. Both men stretched their arms out slightly but otherwise remained motionless.

"Well," Luffy said still seeming highly serious, "eat already, you're both clearly hungry." As if to prove Luffy's point both men's stomachs growled loudly. They glanced wearily at the crew then each other, Lucci was the first to pull the plate into his lap and begin eating, Kaku followed his example and Luffy immediately smiled like an idiot,

"shihihihihih, Good." there was only a slight pause before, "Sanji I want food too!" The crew simply rolled their eyes, typical Luffy.

* * *

After the two had been fed the cuffs were put in place once again, only due to insistence from Nami and Ussop that the two men couldn't be trusted to be free on the ship.

"Giraffe-san, Leopard-san how did you come to be in this situation?" Robin asked glancing up from the book she had been reading. Both men refused to make eye contact, clearly not interested in sharing the story. "Zoro, Luffy maybe they would be more inclined to tell you individually," Robin suggested shooting both men a meaningful look. Zoro shrugged before walking over and pulling Kaku into a standing position, the man started to protest only to have Zoro throw him over his shoulder and start climbing up to the crows nest.

"Hey put me down Roronoa!" Zoro completely ignored him and soon the two disappeared into the crows nest. The rest of the crew stared for a moment before all going off to work on their own projects, Nami, Brook and Robin heading into the library, Chopper and Ussop going off to work on one of Ussops newest weapon designs, Franky heading off to check on the overall structure of the ship and Sanji disappearing once again into the galley leaving just Luffy and Lucci on the grassy yard of the deck.

* * *

"Well," Zoro said as he sat across from the other man, lifting a very light weight with one hand, Kaku looked at the ground entire body tense, he didn't want to explain this to Zoro, he knew if he revisited those memories he wouldn't be able to control his emotions. He didn't want to appear weak to this man, he snorted at that, like he could look any more pathetic. He was currently sitting handcuffed and wearing nothing but the baggy pants he had been forced into back at the auction house, his body beaten, broken, and branded clearly on display for the other man. He opened his mouth entire body trembling,

"After..." he hesitated voice cracking, "after I lost to you and lost consciousness the buster call was evoked, I would have surely died except that Blueno had pulled all of us into his dimension, protecting us from the attack, when the buster call had concluded and we exited the dimension Spandam was there waiting for us, we had no hope of defending ourselves Lucci was unconscious and I couldn't even stand up. The others weren't much better off, he placed us all under arrest blaming us for Nico Robins escape and the destruction of the tower of justice, his first thought was to have us all executed." he stopped again, Zoro simply waited for Kaku to continue not wanting to push the other man. After a few minutes he continued voice shaking slightly, "but the sick bastard concluded that death was too good a fate for us and ordered us to be sold into slavery instead, even paying for Lucci's medical bills. Those of us who were not in immediate danger were forced onto a marine transport ship and separated from each other, in our CP9 training we were put through torture," Kakus voice cracked again the trembling in his body in tensing, "but nothing could compare to the hell of the next couple of weeks as we sailed to Sabaody."

* * *

 _Kaku jerked awake at the hard slap to the side of his face, looking up he saw a group of three marines standing over him, he tensed pulling at his arms that were restrained in sea prism cuffs above his head and attached to the wall by a thick chain._

 _"Alright boys Spandam says we need to break this trash before we reach Sabaody, anyone wanna give suggestions as to how we wanna go about this?" a very loud scream suddenly echoed through the ship, Kaku cringed, that had been Kalifa,_

 _"How bout we start by making him suffer for making us wait three days." Kaku blinked in surprise he had been unconscious for three days? his thoughts were very suddenly interrupted by one of the marines forcing him to his feet, he stumbled nearly collapsing his body refusing to stand on its own. The marine snarled then smiled,_

 _"Look at that boys he can't even keep himself upright, how pathetic, too bad Spandam said they have to be sellable, so no broken bones, Mick you wanna go first?" The marine in question smiled evily as he stepped forward, Kaku growled lashing out violently with one of his legs, injured as he was it was enough to send the marine into the wall. The other two marines stared stupefied for a moment before both lunged forward yanking harshly at the other mans body Kaku screamed as both his shoulders dislocated harshly from their sockets._

 _"You are going to regret that" Mick growled as he slowly rose from the floor, Kakus eyes widened this was not good. He struggled to stand legs weak and not able to pull himself up with his arms, he backed further into the wall snarling in the back of his throat as the marine approached him. Very suddenly the man straitened and asked the other two which CP9 member they had been assigned,_

 _"Kaku" supplied one of the marines, Mick only nodded,_

 _"I want his file; I want to break him mentally just as much as physically, and in order to do that I need to know what makes him tick."_

* * *

Kaku stopped speaking again, eyes going glossy as he zoned out Zoro immediately reached out and touched Kaku on the shoulder, Kaku thrashed kicking out at the other swordsman only to have Zoro easily pin him down on his stomach,

"Stop" he snarled, and Kaku immediately froze body trembling.

"Zoro, I... I" Kakus voice broke and he simply lay there,

"That's enough for now, but we will finish this story." No sooner had those words left Zoros mouth when Sanji yelled up to them that dinner was ready and to get their asses down here and eat. Zoro stood picking Kaku up and proceeding to carry him down the ladder, Zoro immediately put Kaku down on his feet when he got to the bottom. Kaku scanned the area finding Luffy running over from the front of the ship Lucci trailing slowly behind him, the two locked eyes and in doing so completely missed the meaningful glance and nods thrown between the captain and the first mate.

* * *

When Lucci and Kaku entered the galley they were quickly gestured to sit at the table with the crew, Franky freeing their right hands again so that they could eat. Kaku and Lucci stared in shock as Luffy inhaled everything in sight, the only plates he didn't' touch being those that belonged to the two zoan types.

"He's only leaving your plates alone because you are malnourished, once you get back in proper shape you're on your own." Sanji said while pouring Nami another glass and promptly kicking Luffy in the head for trying to touch Robin's food. "Hands off you moron!" The two men glanced at each other,

"Um... Sanji, how long are we going to be on your ship?" Kaku asked cautiously, Sanji paused then smiled,

"I think that Luffy should answer that question." Both Kaku and Lucci looked over to where Luffy was still inhaling, once he felt eyes on him he immediately stopped eating and smiled at them,

"Why would you want to leave? isn't it obvious that I want you to join my crew?" Kaku and Lucci stared at Luffy before looking toward all the rest of the crew members, expecting shock or disgust but everyone was smiling, even Zoro had a smile on his face,

"I'm sorry what? Why?" Kaku asked flabbergasted, "we hurt Robin, why would you want us to join you?"

"When did you discuss this exactly?" Lucci asked slowly.

"While you were on your way to dinner of course, when else would we have discussed it?" Luffy asked.

Kaku and Lucci stared,

"Look Kaku, Lucci. Luffy knows that when you took Robin you were only following orders and at the time he acted on behalf of his nakama, now though that you have been betrayed by those you were fighting for, Luffy is furious, we actually had to talk him out of hunting Spandam down and destroying him. Luffy takes betrayal and a lack of respect for ones nakama very seriously, in his eyes the moment he saw you at the auction house you were his nakama and he was going to fight to protect you. So you can say no all you want but once Luffy decides you are a crew member you are one, he doesn't understand no."

"Now that, that is settled, who wants dessert?" Sanji asked pulling a large cake out of the fridge, Luffy immediately reached for it only to have Sanji kick him in the head yet again. Kaku and Lucci sat in silence finishing their meals and watching the crew interact with one another.

* * *

Once dinner and dessert had ended and Sanji had kicked Luffy out of the galley and all others except for Lucci, Kaku, Franky, Sanji, and Robin remained, Franky gave both men a very serious look,

"Alright Luffy wants you on the crew, as captain he can make that call, however if you turn on or betray him or anyone else on this ship you are going overboard, do I make myself clear?" both men nodded slowly, "Perfect" and with that the sea prism cuffs were completely removed, and Franky left the galley.

"Giraffe-san, Leopard-san I should warn you that if you try to leave the ship Luffy will immediately assume you were abducted and forced back into slavery, he will then proceed to do everything in his power to get you back. I simply suggest you stay" and with that Robin left as well, with that finished Nami entered the galley shoving large bundles of clothing into each mans hands, "here go shower and change I'm sure you will feel much better" she then gave quick directions to the wash room and went off as well.

* * *

Nami had been right, When Kaku came out of the washroom and back onto the deck he had to smile to himself, Lucci, who had showered first, was currently stretched out on the grass and to all present appeared to be napping. Kaku could tell something was bothering the man and he jumped a foot in the air when something dove by his shoulder in a seemingly unidentifiable white blur. There perching on Lucci shoulder now sat Hattori. Everyone including Lucci stared in shock, the bird giving a soft coo an Chopper immediately running over with an amazed look on his face,

"Really, how did you do it?" the bird cooed again and Chopper nodded, "You are the bravest pigeon I have ever known."

All present stared in shock, "Well Chopper what did he say?" Ussop asked curiously,

"Oh, he said he followed Lucci all the way here and always stayed out of sight, waiting to appear once Lucci was no longer in danger." Lucci immediately relaxed and Kaku smiled again, 'well being a Straw Hat pirate might not be so bad after all' he thought as it was declared Zoro had first watch and that Lucci and Kaku should come sleep in the men's quarters.

* * *

Okay there is chapter two I know it is illogical for Hattori to be here but Lucci just in't Lucci without Hattori.

So this is the first fic like this that I have written so reviews and suggestions are welcome, hope that you guys enjoyed it.


	3. Soul of Steel

The next couple of days passed smoothly, well as smoothly as could be expected with having to keep Luffy on the ship.

"Nami I want to go exploring"

"No Luffy it's your fault we have to hide in the first place, not that that pompous ass didn't deserve it, look the ship should be finished in a couple of hours and we'll set sail tomorrow morning ok?"

Luffy only grumbled, Nami rolled her eyes before taking the news paper from the delivery bird,

"This paper is late!" she yelled angrily before depositing the coin to the bird, but before she could read it she caught a glance of Luffy trying to sneak off the ship, she sighed putting the newspaper down on the table and stomped over to Luffy and punched him in the back of the head,

"Luffy I told you to stay on the ship, go spar with Lucci. He clearly wants to get back in shape."

"Aw can't he spar with Zoro or Sanji?"

"Zoro is sparring with Kaku and I'm sure you wouldn't want Sanji to stop preparing dinner, would you?"

Luffy made a face of complete horror before running off to find Lucci and yelling to Sanji that he better not stop making dinner.

* * *

Kaku lunged, swinging the swords he had bought yesterday with his allowance from Nami, she said this was his one freebie before she began his debt, he'd also used some of the money to buy himself another cap, Zoro easily blocked it eyebrow raising at Kaku's form. Kaku turned swinging again, Zoro blocked and then twisted sending Kaku backward and he stumbled ending up laid out on his back.

"Kaku you're distracted." Zoro stated standing over the other swordsman, Kaku immediately tried to argue, saying he was fine just out of shape. "Kaku being out of shape does not explain your lousy footwork" Zoro paused before sheathing his swords and sitting next to the other man, "What has you so distracted?" Kaku sighed staring up into the sky, he laughed weekly at the familiarity,

"I... I guess it's time to finish that torture story then." Kaku said trying to sound light and failing miserably. Zoro didn't say anything simply waiting for the other man to continue.

* * *

Luffy could easily see Zoro and Kaku from where he was sparring with Lucci, the man was doing considerably better then the swordsman and seemed completely focused and in the zone, once they had sparred for a few minutes Luffy stopped a curious expression coming over his face,

"Hey Leopard guy." Lucci looked at him but said nothing, "Why are you able to move forward so much easier than Kaku?" Lucci blinked surprised by the question and by the captain's observational skills.

"He gets attached, it made him great at undercover jobs, but the kid's a bleeding heart, and if what I went through on the trip to Sabaody after I had recovered was bad, Kakus was undoubtedly worse not only was I unconscious for almost a week and a half of the journey but he genuinely cares for people once those bastards figured that out they undoubtedly used it to tear the kid apart." Having been around Luffy for the last couple of days Lucci was unsurprised to see anger rise up in the straw hat wearing mans eyes. Sure he had gotten through telling Luffy his whole ordeal in just the one sitting and with little difficulty, after all his torture had only been four days long and they couldn't break bones and he honestly could care less about most of the rest of the CP9 members, sure Kaku was certainly not as annoying as the rest but he had kept his opinion about that to himself.

"You know him best, how do we get him back on his feet?" Luffy asked slipping back into what Lucci was calling his serious nakama protection mode. Lucci hummed thinking about that, sure he knew Kaku better than the Straw Hat crew but he had always stayed detached from everyone but Hattori. With that last thought he smiled,

"Get your doctor over here to ask Hattori, Hattori would know better than I would." Luffy seemed confused, "Look I already told you I don't allow myself to get attached to people so I honestly don't know that much about him, aside from the fact he greatly enjoyed being a shipwright in Water 7 and as much as he tried to hide it, it tore him apart having to betray them and leave." Luffy nodded seeming to process this information, before he suddenly stood up and ran off to another part of the ship.

* * *

"The first day they tried physical pain, it didn't work out all that well for them, at the end of that day they harshly popped my shoulders back into place and stormed out. But the next day they dragged me out of the cell and down the hall, it didn't click with me right away but they had obviously read my file which states strengths and weaknesses among other things, unfortunately for me I happen to get attached. I know that seems unlikely with my profession but no matter how much they tried they never did manage to break my core. I get attached, I care, I am typically a pretty happy go lucky type of guy and no CP9 training ever truly changed that. They skipped hurting me, for the most part, and instead went after everyone else, yea I didn't get along perfectly with the others but... damn it they were still the closest thing I had to nakama. After we reached Sabaody I don't know what happened to them."

* * *

 _Mick smiled darkly as he pulled the chain from the wall freeing one wrist and proceeded to force his arms behind his back and re-cuff them before grabbing his arm dragging the square noised man out of his cell and down the hall, Kaku struggled and thrashed but in his current state plus the draining effects of the sea prism he didn't have a chance of freeing himself. They stopped three cells down and Kaku was pushed forward falling onto his knees, once he had managed to right himself somewhat he looked up and locked eyes with a confused Jabra who is also kneeling with his hands chained to the ground in front of him, the confusion vanished almost instantly as pain quickly replaced it as two marines very suddenly lashed his back harshly with thick rope pieces. Kakus eyes widened and he thrashed, Jabra on his part made absolutely no sound except for a low grunt, Mick smiled darkly as Kaku tried desperately to free himself, as the marines continued the harsh lashing of Jabras back, when he failed to free himself he tried to look away flinching at the sound, Mick noticed and forcefully pulled Kakus face forward to watch. Though no blood was drawn ugly welts began to appear on Jabras back, the wolf zoan on his part stayed stoically silent, Mick hummed before motioning to one of the marines who instantly stepped forward, Mick used a handful of Kakus hair to pull the man backwards so his stomach was exposed. Jabra glanced up and his and Kakus eyes widened in the same instant as the thick whip came down on the smaller males torso hitting the still healing wound from his fight with Zoro, Kaku immediately screamed thrashing wildly as the cut was torn open. Jabra snarled low in the back of his throat, but stayed motionless, Mick laughed darkly,_

 _"And here I thought you two didn't like each other." Kaku gasped body shuddering, he thrashed desperately as he was once again forced backwards, his eyes widened and he desperately locked eyes with Jabra, the wolf zoan pulled at his restraints eyes filling with anger. The blow never came instead the_ _marine turned and lashed the whip across Jabras arms, the wolf zoan hissed at the pain but made no other sound. Kaku pulled desperately at his restraints._

 _"So Jabra is it? What do you think, should we open this little bastard up more?" Mick asked releasing Kakus hair and shoving the male forward_ _, unable to catch himself he hit the ground hard, wincing in pain. Jabra snarled, "You coward, I'm surprised you even got into the marines as spineless as you are." Kakus eyes widened in panic as Micks body tensed visibly before grabbing one of the rope whips from a marine and stepping forward, he didn't get two steps before he tripped and fell flat on his face. The other marines gasped, Mick whirled around glaring death at Kaku, the giraffe zoan stared back anger flaring in his large round eyes,_

 _"You" Mick snarled raising his whip to lash out only to pause at the last moment bringing the rope down on the wolf zoan, hard, catching his shoulder and upper back, Kakus eyes widened, as the whip lashed out on Jabra again and again in quick rapid succession,_

 _"No!" Kaku yelled struggling back onto his knees, at this point Mick had drawn blood and Jabra was having a hard time suppressing any sounds of pain, "Please, stop." Mick only smiled,_

 _"Why should I, I'm sure Spandam won't mind if there is one less slave." Kakus eyes widened before he closed them dropping his head forward,_

 _"Then kill me, if one of us has to die let it be me." Jabra tried to protest but a sudden kick to the jaw from Mick halted anything he had to say,_

 _"I don't know kid seeing you shatter seems a lot more fun than killing you, though I suppose if I kill the dog you'll only grow stronger, he can live," with that Mick dropped the whip and forcefully dragged Kaku back to his cell forcing him to kneel and restraining his wrists to the ground._

 _"That was fun kid, I can't wait for tomorrow." Mick said before slamming the cell door and leaving Kaku in the dark, for the next two days Mick didn't return, in fact no one entered his cell, by the time the fifth day came around Kaku was dehydrated and starving, Mick forcefully poured water down his throat before dragging him out of his cell again this time they ended up in Bluenos cell, though the method was different the general events of three days ago was repeated leaving Kaku in tears. This went on for the next nine days each member he visited was in worse condition at the start then the ones he had seen the days before. By the time they reached Sabaody Kakus large eyes seemed lifeless, only shinning slightly when he saw that all of the members were still alive, and were at least well enough to walk at least mostly by themselves, it was another five days before they were actually sold, one at a time. They had been fed in those five days so as to be sellable, as they had been nearly starved on the voyage, after Kaku had been sold he was forced to the back of the auction house and branded harshly with the mark of a slave, a quick salve was placed on it so that the man who bought Kaku would not have to worry about maintenance or infection._

* * *

"There you have it" Kaku spat. Having rolled onto his side and curling into a tight ball, Zoro said nothing body thrumming with rage at what he had just heard, how dare anyone take a loyalty like that and exploit it so viciously. Kaku flinched when Zoro didn't answer, he was certain the other man would scoff at his weakness.

"Kaku," Zoro said having to swallow to keep all the rage out of his voice, "What you call a weakness I would call a strength, not many people can face death so readily for others. You needn't be ashamed of what happened, it takes a soul of steel to go through what you went through and not shatter completely," Kaku turned to stare at him and opened his mouth, "and before you object and say that they broke you they didn't there is still determination, life, and fire in your eyes, they may have cracked you but you are not broken." Kaku didn't know how to reply to that, he smiled feeling like a great weight had been lifted from his shoulders. "Now how about we spar for real this time?" Zoro asked standing and extending a hand out to Kaku, the giraffe zoan nodded taking the hand and letting Zoro help him to his feet. They didn't get very far in their sparring when Nami suddenly screamed,

"Luffy! Come down here now!" Luffy landed before her and she immediately pulled his hat off and turned it so she could see the inside, as she feared the piece of paper sewn to the inside of his hat was flickering, "Luffy Ace is in danger, he's scheduled for execution in three days!" Luffy immediately became serious,

"Where?" Nami skimmed the paper,

"He is being held at impel down, it's about two days from here"

"We set sail. Now" Nami nodded

"The ship just got finished" by now the rest of the crew had gathered, and almost immediately split up to get the ship sailing.

"Don't worry Luffy we won't let him die" to Luffys surprise it had been Lucci that had spoken.

Luffy nodded, there was no way in hell he was going to let Ace die.

* * *

So there is chapter three I know that it is really dark, but it will get lighter I promise

Hope you enjoyed it feel free to critique if you feel so inclined, suggestions are also welcome


	4. The Snake Princess

**So sorry that this took so long this chapter was super hard for me to write, I had to find the correct episode to review what happened. Hope you all enjoy and I hope it makes sense.**

* * *

Thankfully they had caught a strong wind that was blowing in the direction they needed to travel, Nami smiled at Hattori, the bird had brought her two eternal poses, one for Impel Down and one for Marineford, and Nami made absolutely certain they used the wind to its full potential. They had barely left the cove when Luffy was very suddenly picked up by a large bird wearing a strange hat,

"Luffy!"

"Save Ace! I'll find a way to catch up with you!" Luffy yelled as the bird flew off.

"Nami, where is the bird headed?" Kaku asked, Nami scanned the map,

"The only island in that direction that I see is one called Amazon Lilly. I've never heard of it before."

"It's the home of Pirate Empress Boa Hancock." Lucci supplied as he leaned against the rail of the ship watching the bird. "She is one of the seven warlords of the sea."

"I'm sure that Luffy will be able to handle himself." Zoro said, the rest of the crew nodded in agreement.

"Alright, so are we going to attack Impel Down, or wait and strike at Marineford?" Kaku asked drawing everyone back to the conversation they'd been having before Luffy's departure.

"Well if what you guys said about Impel Down is true and we attack there now, especially without Luffy, we will never make it to Ace before he is moved to Marineford." She paused studying the map, "So we strike at Marineford." Nami decided.

* * *

"Stupid bird put me down I have to save Ace!" Luffy yelled attempting to free himself from the bird's mouth. The bird completely ignored him and continued flying; very suddenly the bird began to dive straight for an island. Once the bird was at tree level it released its 'package' and flew off. Luffy landed upside down before promptly falling onto his back, he suddenly sat straight up. "I have to find someone with a boat!" he yelled before running off, in a random direction.

* * *

"So who exactly are we sailing off to save?" Kaku asked, he hadn't bothered to ask before because it was important to set sail and get going, but now he had nothing to do as they sailed to their destination. Nami handed him the newspaper, he read the article then looked up in surprise, "Fire Fist Ace, Commander of the second division of Whitebeard pirates, that's who we are rushing off to save?"

"Yea he is Luffys big brother." Nami said.

"Mrs. Navigator I should point out that Whitebeard, and most, if not all of, his crew will most likely be coming to Aces execution with a similar goal to ours." Robin said glancing up from her book.

"Yea that's right Whitebeard is very protective of his crew."Zoro stated from where he was lying on the grass.

"Since the Marines probably are expecting the Whitebeard pirates to show up then they will probably have a large amount of Marines there, they may even have the admirals present." Everyone looked up in surprise not expecting Lucci to partake in the conversation at all.

"So have either of you been to Marineford?" Robin asked. Kaku shook his head no, but Lucci nodded,

"Only once."

* * *

"Pops, I've contacted everyone, they're all headed to Marineford yoi"

Whitebeard didn't reply as he looked out to sea, they were going to get Ace back.

* * *

"So how many masters did you have or was it just the one?" Lucci asked, Kaku glanced up in surprise, not expecting Lucci to even care about his time as a slave.

"Just the one. You?" Zoro opened one eye glancing over at the other two men and listening intently to their conversation.

"I had a couple the first of which was much like yours she only had an interest in my animal form and kept me in it at all times, she got tired of me pretty quick. The next guy I was sold to had no interest in my Zoan abilities and only wanted me as a human chair. I honestly think I preferred my first owner, anyway by the time he got tired of me your owner had evidently tired of you and we met up at Sabaody and the rest you know." Kaku nodded.

"Someone forced you to stay in your full animal form?" Chopper asked, the small reindeer wandering over to sit next to Kaku. Kaku nodded before explaining to Chopper about having to stay in his full giraffe form at all times and carry his master around on his back.

"If that was the case I would like to take a look at your full animal form to make sure nothing there is out of place or strained." Kaku nodded,

"Wouldn't the strain be viewable in any form?" He asked, the little doctor shook his head,

"Not necessarily, as a full transformation your muscles and organs change when you enter the full form, meaning things shift around, a muscle you only have in your animal form wouldn't be viewable at all in your human form." that made sense he supposed, after waking Zoro and having him move out of the way, so as not to get crushed by accident, Kaku shifted into his hybrid form, Chopper checked it over and determined that this form was in excellent shape, he nodded and Kaku shifted to his full animal form, he winced, something was tender. Chopper checked him over and nodded,

"Like I feared you pulled a muscle along your shoulder, luckily it is not severe, can you lie down in this form? Stop if the strain feels worse." Kaku nodded, easily dropping to a laying position, he immediately relaxed, the strain letting up a little in the new position. Once he was laid down Chopper hopped down.

"Stay right here" he said before running off to the galley, he returned in his human form carrying a fairly large bag of ice. Once he had crawled back up he deposited the bag onto the muscle, Kaku made a low hissing sound when the cold touched his skin.

"Good, now stay here and don't move the ice." the little doctor instructed climbing back down before walking over to Lucci, "alright I want to check your other two forms as well," Lucci shrugged but showed both forms to the doctor, luckily both his forms were in good shape. Once done Chopper removed the ice from Kakus shoulder, "Ok stay in this form and stay laying down, the muscle needs to get better and it can't do that in your other forms. It is a good thing that Lucci mentioned you being stuck in that form, had you used it in a fight the muscle strain could have gotten worse." Kaku stared down at the little doctor then nodded. He really didn't want to stay in this form, in his other form he was at least out of the way. Zoro returned to laying on the grass to nap and the rest of the crew returned to their regular tasks.

* * *

"That's enough I don't feel like it anymore." The women with flowing black hair said from her snake throne.

"Okay..." Luffy replied before searching the stone turned maiden for cracks or breaks, "She's not broken anywhere right? Okay then, put these people back to normal" The two other women in the arena stared in shock, how dare he demand something of their sister in such a way,

"What did he say?" the black haired women whispered in surprise.

"You can do that, right? They only tried to protect me! They did nothing wrong! So, Please!" The woman stared at him for a long moment before replying,

"Indeed, I have the ability to turn them back to normal. However..." She stood gracefully before continuing, "You said there was somewhere you wanted to go by ship?"

"Yea, my Nakama are waiting for me."

"I see. I will grant you only one of two choices! Either I turn these women back to normal, or you get to leave this island! Choose one and throw the other choice away forever!" The women smiled certain of which choice the male would make.

"I will not be tricked!" the black haired woman whispered, "Show the true nature of 'Men'!"

Luffy dropped to his knees, "Really?! Thank you! Then these guys can be saved, right?" The Women stared in shock, why would he pick the option that did not directly benefit him?

"Thank you so much!" Luffy continued dropping his head down to the ground to bow, knocking his hat off in the process, The two women stared at their elder sister, what would she do? The elder of the village looked on thoughtfully from her seat in the bleachers watching the three sisters and the young man with the straw hat, "Not a single moment of hesitation" she said, "A man with such a strong haki to bow for the sake of others. Maybe he can..."

"Big sister?" the orange haired women asked. The black haired women slowly began to descend the steps walking past the male, once she passed him he sat back on his knees and turned to look at her smiling the whole time. She hesitated before returning the women to normal.

* * *

After Boa Hancock had explained the mark on her back to Luffy, and had in turn heard of Luffy's actions in the auction house, which Luffy confirmed punching the celestial dragon. Luffy was informed of Hancock's status as a Shichibukai, and learned she had been ordered to appear at Aces execution. Luffy begged her to accept and to take him with her, to everyone's shock she agreed.

"I'm going to save you Ace, I promise."

* * *

 **So there is chapter four hope that you guys liked it, I won't be going into detail about Luffy's time at Impel Down, and Ace and the Whitebeard Pirates should be in the next chapter. Still trying to figure out how accurate to the story I want to make this, so please bare with me.**

 **As always suggestions and reviews are welcome.**


	5. A new Ally?

**Ok so sorry that I haven't updated in so long, life has been a serious chaos pit, so without further adieu here it is:**

Ace allowed the marines to walk him up the steps he mostly ignored his surroundings because he was lost in his own thoughts, 'Was what Hancock said true? Why would she bother to tell him that, she was his enemy, wasn't she? She worked for the government, so why would she defy them by helping him. Was it even true? And if it was, why was Luffy doing something so reckless, this was far too dangerous for him.' He was forced out of his thoughts when the marines forced him to his knees, so that they could secure his chains to the platform. 'Hancock hadn't mentioned Luffy's crew at all were they with him? Surely they wouldn't let his idiot brother do something like this on his own, would they?' he wondered as he looked out over the large gathering of Marines and into the ocean in the distance.

* * *

"Nami! It's the Whitebeard Pirates!"

"What?!" the navigator yelled, turning her attention to where her long nosed crewmate was pointing. Sure enough there in the distance was by far the largest gathering of ships they had ever seen,

"Hey Nami, why are they not all flying the same pirate flag?" Chopper asked from where he was giving Kaku a final check up for his strained muscle. To his surprise the giraffe zoan answered his question,

"Whitebeard doesn't just have his crew, the sixteen divisions, he also has other pirate crews under his command, several in fact, most of which have tried and failed to take his territory."

"Oh, that's so cool." Chopper exclaimed stars forming in his eyes.

"Well Miss Navigator are we going to make ourselves known or just hope they don't attack us?" Before Nami could answer they caught sight of a flash of blue before a man was standing on the deck of their ship. The man had a rather lazy or relaxed look to him, he wore an opened shirt of purple, dark pants, a belt of connected gold pieces and a blue sash, as well as sandals and a white tasseled band around his left calf, but the most noticeable aspect was the man's odd tuft of blond hair, strangely resembling the green top of a pineapple.

"You are Straw Hat Luffys crew right? Yoi" the man asked, Nami nodded slowly, to their surprise the man smiled, "I knew I recognized the hat on your Jolly Roger yoi. Ace has told us all about his kid brother and his crew, glad I finally get to meet the lot of ya. I'm Marco, first division commander of the Whitebeard Pirates, Is Luffy here? yoi"

"No, we got separated but he's sure to be headed to Marineford to save Ace." Zoro said eying the man carefully. Marco only nodded, "You're all headed to Marineford just for Ace's sake then, that brat sure does cause his share of problems." he said before jumping off the ship and shooting off towards the Whitebeard ships in a blue blur. The crew exchanged looks, before veering slightly to be closer to the large group of ships,

"Well Chopper what do you say? Am I all clear?"

"Yea you have made a full recovery. You can use all three of your forms now with no problems," the little doctor said with a huge smile on his face.

"So are we temporarily allied with them now?" Sanji asked,

"I would say that is a fair assessment, we are all after the same thing so fighting each other would be a waste of energy and resources." Robin said, not bothering to look up from her book.

"Oh Robin-Chan is so beautiful when she is talking strategy," Sanji swooned over the women.

"Idiot Cook," Zoro grumbled,

"What did you say Marimo?!" Sanji yelled staking over to the other man,

"You heard me, or are you deaf as well as stupid?" with that statement Sanji attacked him and the two began fighting all over the deck.

* * *

"Well they certainly are a lively bunch aren't they?" Izo said watching the Straw Hat crew,

"Well based on Ace's description of Luffy I'd say they are exactly the way I expected, yoi" Marco said, "It seems they have decided to come along, they have been in the papers quite a lot recently, their help may very well be a god send. Make sure all ships know they are an ally and not a threat, yoi"

"Already done," The make-up clad man said with a smirk, "Ace will be most unpleased that his brother will be engaging in something this dangerous."

"I fear that Luffy is in more danger then we think; I heard there was a break in at Impel Down."

Marco's eyes widened, "Surely Ace's brother wouldn't be that stupid?" To everyone's surprise Whitebeard began laughing thunderously this generation of pirates was going to cause some serious waves.

* * *

"Watch it you idiots!" Nami yelled as her two crewmates continued fighting all over the deck, noticing that Lucci and Kaku sat in the middle of the deck and only exerted the minimal effort to avoid the fight, they appeared to be talking about something but with Zoro and Sanji fighting she couldn't hear.

"Would you like to know what they are saying?" Robin asked "The conversation is actually quite interesting," Looking closer Nami saw the ear located on the mast just out of sight of both men. The navigator nodded smiling as Robin begin to repeat what was said between the two men.

* * *

Within the next hour the walls of the Marine Base came into sight.

'This is it' Luffy thought, "I'M COMING ACE!"

 **Sorry this chapter is so short, but the battle of Marineford will hopefully be the next chapter**


	6. Lead Up

Kaku stared, he'd never seen an ice breaking ship before, and this one was enormous. His eyes widened further as the large ship crashed straight through the walls of Marineford, completely destroying the section of wall, and leaving the ship unharmed. Once the dust had cleared and the ship had sailed in further they could see the large gathering of Marines, and just beyond them was the wooden platform. Whitebeards main ship entered next and the Thousand Sunny followed right behind it, Kaku glanced around the ship noticing that everyone was ready to attack. Before they got the chance another ship came into view, this one a large Marine ship, everyone tensed until the noticed the male standing at the front of the ship was wearing a very familiar straw hat, "ACE!" Yep that was diffidently Luffy.

* * *

Ace's head shot up, 'Luffy?!' he thought, "Luffy what are you doing here?" he whispered to himself. He glanced sideways and saw Garp's hands clench into fists,

"Damn it Luffy!" the Marine cursed, "Why can't you just obey the laws?!"

* * *

"Well if it isn't that damn clay making bastard" Sanji suddenly said eying the rest of the people on the ship with Luffy. Both Nami and Zoro looked closer and sure enough there was Number 3.

"How did he end up traveling with Luffy?" Nami asked.

"When it comes to him it is best not to ask." Zoro supplied exasperatedly, Robin just shook her head that, that was their Captain alright.

"Is that Crocodile traveling with him?" Kaku asked, surprised to see the pirate traveling with the one person who had taken him down. Suddenly the pirate moved, quicker than lightning, and had he not been trained in CP9 he would never have been able to follow the man's movements.

* * *

Rather than striking Whitebeard the sand man found himself colliding with the captain of the Straw Hat pirates.

"This old guy really is Whitebeard? Then don't touch him! Ace likes this old guy!"

* * *

"Luffy!" Zoro called to catch his captains attention.

Luffy turned to find the source of the voice, "Oh you guys made it perfect, let's go get my brother."

The crew all smiled, "Well Captain's orders let's go," "Aye!" the crew cheered as they jumped over the edge of the ship landing on the shore, beginning to move forward. Luffy smiled,

"Well Old Guy I gotta go get my brother, so I'm gonna borrow your railing," he called before grabbing the rails and slinging into the middle of the marines. Whitebeard suddenly burst out laughing,

"Well lads lets go get our boy!" "Aye!" the crew called before also joining the fray.

* * *

I am so so so so sorry about this chapter being so late and about how short it is. I just got married and I am super writers blocked and trying to get the flow of this story back. I appreciate all of you who are following this and I will try really hard to post longer chapters more often. Love you all.


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